


The One I Love

by Adarian



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adarian/pseuds/Adarian
Summary: When Cullen starts disappearing nightly, Cassandra worries that he's fallen off the wagon and using lyrium once more. She enlists Sera to help her spy on him and discovers a completely different explanation: he's been secretly dating a civilian woman who might just be perfect for him.Based on one of the cutest kink-meme prompts ever
Relationships: Cassandra Pentaghast & Cullen Rutherford, Cullen Rutherford/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	The One I Love

Cassandra hadn't meant to spy on Cullen. Really. She was a strong believer in personal privacy. If a man had secrets, it was no business of hers. But she had made a promise to him. No matter what, she would keep him off lyrium and intervene if she had to. He was her friend and her colleague and she would not allow him to harm himself in anyway. 

It could be innocent, him sneaking off most nights and not returning until morning. He was a grown man. He could do what he wished in his spare time. He seemed well rested enough when he snuck back into his quarters at dawn. Either Cullen had slept or he had benefited from something to put him at such ease. Sleep he could have at Skyhold. Whatever he was getting elsewhere...Cassandra truly hoped in her heart that it wasn't lyrium. Maybe he had picked up some sort of hobby or had found God again but whatever it was, his entire demeanor had become remarkably different in the past few months. She needed to know. She knew she could just come out and ask him but if it wasn't lyrium, then she might break the trust that he had in her. He was vulnerable and he needed to know she believed in him. Which of course she was technically breaking his trust by spying on him, but if he didn't know, it didn't count. Or so she hoped. 

However, Cassandra was a poor spy and she had no idea even where to begin tracking the General in a way he wouldn't notice. She couldn't exactly sneak a few feet behind him and hope he didn't see her. She was tall and loud and made her presence known. So she needed an expert. And one who had no stakes in the matter. If Cullen was on lyrium again, it had to be someone who wouldn't judge him and would let Cassandra take the lead on deciding what to do with the information.

She had intended to ask- well, she had no idea who she had intended to ask, but she had certainly not intended to ask Sera. And yet, somehow it was Sera who was creeping low in the bushes beside her. The elf was beside herself in excitement to be on a real mission and was delighted to find out all of Cullen's secrets. She had bet that it was sex, that he was finally paying someone to "take the stick out of his ass and stick something else up it instead." Crude imagery aside, Cassandra was hoping he was right. Sex was a much better explanation than lyrium. She was just hoping she wouldn't catch him in the act. She just needed enough evidence to put her mind at ease. 

They were currently following a lead of Sera's. Cullen had often been seen entering a small house in the village at the base of the mountain. It was early enough in the evening that he shouldn't be there yet so they could sneak in and have a look around for any lyrium based paraphernalia. 

Unfortunately, the little one room house already had someone in it. They hadn't gotten a look at them yet but it was clear that they wouldn't be able to go unnoticed while the occupant was there. Thus, they were in the bushes, squatting in the cold and waiting while Sera tried to coax Cassandra into playing word games in the dirt with her.

"See, then you pick four names of someone you'd hitch - I got Harding, Dagna -"

Cassandra heard footsteps and hissed at Sera to shut up. Cassandra lifted her head slightly to get a better view. It was dark enough that it was hard to make out the figure walking towards them but she had a good sense anyways. Cullen tended to drag his left foot slightly when he walked. It sounded like him. And while she couldn't see much, he was clearly rubbing the back of his neck. A key reaction of a nervous Cullen. 

Sera grabbed Cassandra's shoulder, shaking it gleefully. Cassandra once again insisted she shut up. 

Cullen knocked at the door and someone answered. Cassandra couldn't see them but she studied the voice. Likely female. Somewhere between twenty and sixty - not a teenager but not an old woman - and not a heavy smoker. It was possibly a Ferelden accent of some sort but Cassandra was terrible with accents. 

To their great luck, the woman left with Cullen and the pair walked down the street together. Sera grabbed Cassandra and yanked her out of the bushes. 

"We got maybe five minutes to check the house, yeah? Heard him saying something about the lilies by the river. Let's go!"

Sera jimmied open the back window and Cassandra boosted her inside before climbing in herself. It was a chaotic mess. The woman's tiny bed was pushed into the corner and the rest of the house was filled with books and vials and dried herbs and possibly potions. They wouldn't have time to look at all of it but Cassandra started scouring to look for lyrium. As long as it wasn't lyrium, it didn't matter. 

Sera warned, "Hear them coming back."

Cassandra grabbed Sera and hid them both in the closet. Sera started giggling and Cassandra shoved her in warning. Sera opened the door just slightly and they both shuffled so they could see out the crack. Sera ended up having to sit in Cassandra's lap and Cassandra was grateful that she could at least restrain the girl if she had to.

The main door opened and Cullen and the woman entered. Cassandra narrowed her age down to somewhere in her thirties, maybe younger if the war had aged her skin. She was dark in complexion and her tightly coiled hair was collected in a lovely green scarf that matched her luminous eyes. From her height, Cassandra guessed she was human but her ears were slanted slightly and she supposed she had some elven blood in her. She wasn't a large woman but she was sturdy. Her arms were quite muscled and she was...well, Sera made a much cruder description of her form, but she was quite well endowed and it suited the frame of her body. 

Cullen was stripped down to his travelling clothes. No armor. He was grinning from ear to ear and holding her hand tightly as he entered the room. He kissed her sweetly and the woman giggled, throwing her arms around his neck before kissing him back.

"Food first," she reprimanded. "I know for a fact you probably ate one meal at most all day. You need to keep eating. Your body is burning through its stores faster than you think it does. You sit and I'll make dinner."

"I could make dinner."

"Love, you are a horrendous cook. Sit down. Clear off a space, it doesn't matter where those texts go. Sorry the place is a mess. I've been tracking down a concoction and I'm this close to finding it. It'll be so much more effective than the willow bark tea and I'll need it with this flu season coming in. There are going to be a lot of very sick and very grumpy people and I'm going to run out of supplies if I don't figure out something."

"You're working too hard, Miriam."

"Ha, coming from you? Please. How was it today? How was that new recruit...Jim?"

Cullen sighed. "Jim. I tell you, darling, he has the worst timing I have ever seen. I was deep in an interrogation and the agent was just about to tell me everything when Jim just stumbles in to tell me I've gotten a letter from my sister."

"Oh? Did the baby come yet?"

"No, that's the worst part. She was just asking me if I needed more socks sent to me. Apparently she was reading something about how lyrium withdrawal worsens circulation and she had nightmares about me losing my feet in the winter. I told her, I'm marrying a healer, I know about the circulation problems." 

Sera and Cassandra looked at each other, Cassandra in fear and Sera in sheer delight. Sera started humming a crude song about wedding nights and Cassandra put her hand over her mouth once more.

Miriam chuckled. "You're her brother. She's always going to worry about you. If she's knitting socks, I could always use another pair. I tell you, I don't know how my feet are still growing at my age, but I swear they're growing."

"Or maybe you don't know how to launder socks without shrinking them."

"I can't know everything, love, or it would all come tumbling out of me." 

They couldn't see Miriam at the stove but Cassandra could smell it now. It was a beef stew common to this region. She had it only once but she had nearly melted away at the taste of it. Miriam must have kept it in a cool box before reheating it. That was quite a contraption to rig up just for the occasional leftover. Perhaps she often worked throughout the entire day. Or she usually kept extra to feed Cullen later. 

Miriam moved over to the table and sat in Cullen's lap. He beamed at her and rested his forehead to hers. She ran her fingers through his hair, curling in the damp fall air. 

"How is your head?" She asked softly.

"Better," he admitted. "This week was...hard. We captured a cache and I wasn't tempted as much as just...it would be so easy to just make the pain go away. I want to be the best man I can and being sick like this, I'm not."

Miriam kissed him and murmured, "You are a better man than any I have known."

Cullen smiled. "Then you really haven't known many nice men."

"I have. You're just the best one of them."

Cullen held her face in his hands. "I couldn't do this without you."

"You could, but I'm so grateful I'm here to help. I love you so much."

Cassandra sighed dreamily and the pair stopped, Cullen's face growing stern. Miriam grinned and got off his lap. She opened up the closet and while she seemed surprised, she didn't seem to be angry.

"I thought you were the two girls next door looking for crystal grace powder again. Yet here two grown women are hiding and spying on me. Let me guess. You with the muscles, you must be Cassandra. And the blonde elf...must be Sera. Am I right?"

Cullen stood, looking both irritated and sheepish. "You're right, love. That's them."

Cassandra tried to explain, "I thought you were using and I had to make sure but then I didn't want you to think I didn't trust you and-"

Leaping to her feet, Sera asked, "Can we stay for dinner?"

Miriam looked at Cullen. "Can they or should I defend your honor by throwing them out in a grand huff and insist they never step in my house ever again?" 

Cullen went to Cassandra and offered his hand. He helped her stand and the pair of friends looked at each other for what felt like an eternity. 

Finally Cullen smiled. "Yes, you should stay for dinner."

Cullen went to Miriam and put his arm around her waist. "Cassandra, Sera, this is Miriam. Miriam, these are my friends who meant so well that they broke into your house."

Miriam shook both their hands. "A pleasure. But next time, please knock."


End file.
